IOM 2017/18 Winter Series #6 (24/02/18)

Well, Windguru told us 12knots from the SE and we got 12knots from the SE, beautiful blue skies but a bracing Siberian wind.

16 boats, 15 in second suit and Emilio in top suit. The early pace setters settled in very quickly with Rob winning 4 of the first 6 before tea break, Paul taking the other 2 races with Derek not far behind with a brace of seconds and a brace of thirds. Gary Benson also showing good form in races 1 and 5. Unfortunately Rob had to miss race 4 to take a trip to the corner shop for a pack of AAs for his TX, just shows, once again, 10 years at the top of the sport and even a World Champion can sometimes fail to prepare for Birkenhead.

After tea and the big question was, had Alan Watkinson taken a visit to the dodgy Russian doctor for something a little stronger than Tetleys with some great results especially in races 7 and 9. By race 7 the guts had gone out of a few of the gusts which allowed Emilio to finally get his boat downwind without cartwheeling and somersaulting and get two race wins.

The day belonged to Rob though, with Paul, Derek and Martin closely following, 5th was a mile behind these top four. Final chapter to the book in two weeks, will Rob take the perfect 400 or will he crack under the pressure and let Paul, Graham or Martin through to take the chocolates?

Thanks go to Jack and Bernie, once again and also John for doning the waders once again.